Where the Light Arrives
by Golden Moon Huntress
Summary: AU, ONESHOT. The tributes of Stereotypes attend a hatching. It goes surprisingly well.


**Author's Note**

Exactly what it says on the tin, a short and sweet hatching stories. All these characters feature in my Hunger Games fic, Stereotypes, but you don't need to read that to understand this.

* * *

The humming of the dragons filled the Weyr. It almost felt like it was vibrating the stone itself.

"Candidates, this way!"

The candidates lined up, girls and boys, and followed their respective Candidate Masters away to the changing quarters. Diamond was leading the girls, her long, white blonde hair loose down her back, while Maximus led the boys. Four staff members were handing out white tunics as they arrived. Oliver quickly stripped off and pulled the one he was handed over his head. He had been searched, he tried to remind himself, which meant the dragons wanted him. Still, he couldn't help looking at the huge, muscular boys like Silas and the lithe, athletic Orion and wonder what he was doing here.

"This way boys! Quickly!"

They were led out to the mouth of the sands, where they met again with the girls. Oliver scanned the line, finding Zinnia towards the centre of the line doing her best to look happy and welcoming. He gave her a thumbs up, which she didn't return.

The girls were led out onto the sands first. There was some brief clapping from the sands, though that was quickly silenced. No one wanted to disturb the hatching, not when it was so precious.

It was a large clutch, forty eight eggs, though not as large as Sunspyre's record breaking seventy one hatched ten sevendays ago. Some of the larger eggs were already rocking softly, though most of the smaller ones were still motionless. Valkyrie looked about over them, wondering whether one of them contained a dragon for her.

The fifteen girls fanned out to form a large, loose ring around the large gold eggs. Most had listened and absorbed the many warnings they received about not pressuring the newly hatched Queen, though Willow had to wonder if Diamond was one of them. She looked around the cavern as the boys entered, picking out Tupelo as he found a place on the edge of the sands.

Around them, the humming grew louder. Orion found Astoria in the circle of girls, and she met his gaze for a moment, triumph and nerves all mixed into one. There were rumours, they had heard, of twin dragons hatching at Sunspyre and impressing to twin Candidates. If they had done it there, why could the two of them not do it here? They were meant to be together, forever and always.

The noise seemed deafening. Sierra was doing her best not to drop to the sands and clamp her hands over her ears. Her mummy had been so very proud when she was Searched, but now she would give anything just to go home!

One of the largest eggs began to rock more violently. Cracks spread across the shell. Was this it, Calico wondered? Would this little dragon Impress to him, and he would be a dragonrider like he'd always dreamed of?

Shards of shell fell to the sands as the cracks widened. Another egg gave a vicious shake, cracks spreading over the shell. Gadge shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to ease some of the painful heat. In the stands, he could pick out Data, who had been the only other survivor of the Threadfall that destroyed their village and left them Holdless. Two of her young babes were sat in her lap, while the other was in a carrier at her side. They would have a home here regardless of what happened. She gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled back.

The first egg _exploded_, and a large dragonet shook itself free of the shards. A bronze! Cheers ran around the hatching cavern. It was a good omen. Pern needed bronzes; so many had died in that fateful Threadfall.

The little bronze swung his head from side to side and began to make his way across the sands towards the boys.

At Sunspyre, Tyla thought, a girl had Impressed a particularly violent bronze. Could she do that, she wondered, and ride a great fighting dragon instead of a Queen? Did she want to?

Two more of the eggs cracked open, revealing a brown and a blue respectively. Silas tried to project thoughts of love and admiration to the bronze as it passed, but it was already making a line straight for Maximus. No surprise there. His brothers both rode bronze and his sister Gold. He fell to his knees and cupped the dragon's head in his hands. "His name is Darstonth!"

More cheers met his announcement. Isaac tried to catch the attention of the blue coming his way, but it continued past him. There were other dragons, he told himself, forty seven others. Surely, out of forty seven, there must be one that would want him?

Lucian, too, tried to attract the attention of the blue, but it continued past him to another boy, who fell to the sands with the joy of Impression. More eggs were rocking now though, and more were hatching. Young dragonets spilt across the sands, brown, blue, green. Ash was trying to keep track, unsure of which dragon to watch, half wishing the sands would open and swallow him whole. As he watched, a young blue fell, bawling, into Calico's arms.

"Weaveth!" he announced, to the sound of cheers.

The clutch was hatching around them, but the Queen egg had yet to even twitch. Electra was trying to watch the egg, the sands, and the baby hatchlings all at the same time, and failing at really doing any. Across the ring of girls from her, Tyla had stepped back, wrapping her arms around a sturdy looking green.

"Her name is Calith!"

Maizie watched the other girl Impress and shuffled round slightly to close the gap in the circle, smiling as she saw a brown fall into Tupelo's arms, creeling.

"Barketh!"

Tyla wasn't the only girl to have already Impressed either: little Sierra had fallen to the side of a pale, dainty looking green, which she proclaimed to be Primeth, and Valkyrie had embraced a large, sturdy looking brown, which she announced was Slath. There was going to be some chatter at that one.

Briar flinched as the Queen egg gave a sudden twitch. It was almost overlooked by the whooping cheers as Silas Impressed the second little bronze of the clutch, naming him Feldeth. The Queen egg rocked again, a single, long crack forming down the shell. Beyond the creeling of newly hatched dragonets and cracking of shell, the hatching cavern was silent. This would be only the fourth Queen hatched after that fateful Threadfall, when there were still so few on Pern. She, and the rider she chose, would be important for all of Pern.

Amidst the silence, Oliver's Impression to brown Farmeth and Isaac's Impression to blue Wath were almost completely overlooked.

Shards of glistening golden shell fell away. The cracks spread across it until at last half the egg exploded and the other half rocked backwards across the sand. The young Queen shrieked her indignation at such a humiliating position, flapping damp wings as she fought to right herself. It was her the cavern was watching now; her and her choice.

She made her way to the circle of girls, looking up to inspect each one, seeming to grow increasingly more distressed as she did so. She spent a long time looking at Astoria, and a few of the riders held their breath. Astoria was stunningly beautiful, but there were rather unpleasant rumours about her and her brother that people preferred not to think about.

The newly hatched Queen moved on, to sighs of disappointment from some and relief from others.

Diamond flicked a lock of her hair back, smiling down at the new Queen and going so far as to lean down and reach out. The young dragon gave a furious screech and struck, leaving three long, bloody gashes across Diamond's arm. She cried out, stumbling backwards, and sat down hard in the sand.

The Queen, her eyes whirring red with distress, swung her head side to side to look at the other girls, and then quickly, deliberately, charged towards Maizie. Maizie dropped to her knees in the sand. "Her name is Milareth!"

Screams and cheers ran around the hatching cavern. Zinnia, Electra, and Willow clapped for their fellow candidate as she led her newly Impressed dragon from the sands for some food.

The fallen Diamond, meanwhile, had been approached by a small, pretty looking green. She scowled and waved a hand at it. "Go away! I don't want some green!"

_"__You don't want me?"_

"I was meant to be a Queenrider, like Tiana!"

Beautiful, perfect Tiana had it all. At least until she got torn up by Thread.

The little green trilled in distress. Diamond sniffled and raised her head to meet her rainbow eyes. "You're beautiful."

Why would she want some Queen anyway, she wondered, when she had always been a fighter? Diamond clutched her arm to her chest and stumbled to her feet to lead Bluseth away for some food.

There were only a few hatchlings and unhatched eggs left now. Gadge had fallen to a small blue, which he proclaimed Bishoth, while Briar and Willow, both rejected by the Queens, had been chosen by a green.

A third green, meanwhile, was causing a stir as she tried with some determination to climb into the stands. Data struggled to juggle her three squirming toddlers as the young dragonet creeled and cried. "It's alright Huxleth! I'm coming!"

One of the female greenriders took two of the toddlers as she hurried down the steps to comfort the distressed hatchling.

Zinnia, meanwhile, was doggedly trying to catch the attention of any of the remaining greens and blues. Her determination finally paid off as one of the greens fell into her arms.

"Her name is Kaneth!"

There were six unhatched eggs left, including the two biggest in the clutch, which was unusual. They began to rock furiously, as though it were a competition between them. The remaining candidates began to bunch around the remaining eggs, with Astoria and Orion joining the circle around the two largest. They could feel it, they had always felt it. She reached for his hand. "Together."

"Or not at all."

Soon enough, Lucian and Electra fell to two of the remaining blues before the eggs even started cracking, with exclamations of 'Prinith!' and 'Balfoth!'

Ash, meanwhile, embraced a small, damp green as she shook off shards of eggshell. "Her name is Coleth!"

Long cracks formed across the two large eggs. Some were hoping for bronzes, others for large browns, blues, or even greens.

Both eggs _exploded_, and the two dragonets fell across the sand in a heap of limbs and wings.

Orion's first thought was that they were the most beautiful dragonets he had ever seen. That would certainly suit Astoria.

One, the larger, was a deep, copper colour, with an amber sheen. The smaller also had the amber sheen, though it was over an almost orange hide. The two dragons squeaked and shrieked as they got themselves separated. The remaining candidates crowded around them, and one, Logan, had the nerve to try and turn the larger dragonet's head towards himself. The hatchling squealed in fury, and his sister raked her claws down the boy's leg. Logan fell to the sands, wailing. Kara frowned and took a step back, unwilling to tempt fate with two angry hatchlings.

The smaller stopped in front of Astoria, but it was only when the larger reached Orion that she sank to the sand.

"Her name is Acodath!"

"His name is Hodeth!"

Cheers and applause ran around the hatching cavern as the twins were the last to lead their newly hatched dragons from the sands to the feeding area.

Of course they had to be last. They always did like to put on a show.


End file.
